Egypt's state-run media threatened by Shura move

The first test for the future of press freedom in Egypt
since President Mohamed Morsi took office is not going well.

Actually, not much is going well. I recently returned from a
month in Egypt and the country is in chaos. The power struggle between the
Supreme Council for the Armed Forces (SCAF) and the Muslim Brotherhood's
Freedom and Justice Party, which Morsi represents, has led to dissolution of
the lower house of parliament, or People's Assembly. There is no constitution;
and SCAF has annexed the interim constitutional declaration of last spring to
assign itself sole authority over the state's affairs, providing the president
with a more or less ceremonial, albeit administrative, role. Garbage
accumulates for longer on the streets of Cairo than it used to, and the traffic
police are nowhere to be found. The lights are still on in Egypt, but only
just.

Meanwhile, the country's upper house of parliament, the
Shura Council, which is dominated by the Freedom and Justice Party (and has not
been dissolved--yet)
announced on July 3 that it will begin accepting applications for new
editor-in-chiefs of state-run publications, including the well-known dailies Al-Ahram and Al-Akhbar, according to news reports. A
14-member committee composed of six Shura members, four veteran journalists,
and four communications professors will consider the applications; then a
committee formed exclusively by Shura members will make the final selection,
according to news
reports.

Under ousted former President Hosni Mubarak's regime, the
Shura Council would simply appoint editor-in-chiefs, placing its own supporters
in these powerful positions to ensure coverage sympathetic to the regime.
Mubarak's control over national newspapers was legendary--not one day would go
by without his face on the cover of every state daily. CPJ research shows that
many newspaper heads were corrupt; and if any dared to step out of line with
the ruling party, they were replaced. Even after Mubarak's overthrow, SCAF has used
tactics of politicized
trials to intimidate journalists.

Although holding elections would be a break from the former
system, it would still ultimately leave the appointments in the hands of the
Shura Council. The Egyptian Journalist's Syndicate strongly condemned the
decision and hundreds of journalists came out to protest against it, according
to news reports. Hisham Abbas, a member of the syndicate, told Al-Jazeera in a
July 6 interview
that the group sees this as an attempt by the Muslim Brotherhood to place its
supporters in key positions, much as Mubarak's National Democratic Party would
do. Other local journalists argued
that the Brotherhood would use the process to get rid of editor-in-chiefs who
were critical of the Islamist movement.

Gamal Fahmy, senior member of the syndicate, told the
pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat, "They are
inventing a system...where the press is managed like an institution that is
dedicated to serving the interests of the ruling party by subjecting it to the
control of the Shura Council."

Furthermore, the legality of the Shura's act is in question,
since the council's control of all state-run publications is endowed under the
now-defunct constitution. A new constitution is being drafted by a committee
appointed by SCAF which would define a new relationship between the Shura
Council and the national press, according to news reports. So why the rush to elect
new heads of national publications?

Diaa al-Rashwan of Al-Masry
Al-Youmargued in an
article that the Shura is trying to pre-empt the new constitution, which is
expected to change its relationship with the national press.

Members of the Shura claim that by appointing new
editor-in-chiefs, it can exhume corrupt editors from their posts and start fresh,
especially by announcing a new list
of requirements for the positions, according to news reports. These
include: a candidate must be under 60 years of age, carry no previous criminal
record, and have served at least 15 years at the publication which they are
applying to head. If an appropriate candidate cannot be found to meet these
requirements, then outside
candidates may be considered.

I found Twitter and Facebook abuzz with local journalists in
dismay, all delivering the same message--that the step has censorship written
all over it.

Abeer Saady, vice chair of the Egyptian Journalists'
Syndicate, tweeted, "The problem is...that the press still belongs to the Shura
Council without building an independent media body."

The Egyptian Journalist's Syndicate has called for the
creation of an independent committee to carry out a transparent election
process, according to news reports.

Although Morsi went through the motions of affirming his
commitment to press freedom at a June 28 meeting
with media heads, he has largely been uninvolved in this debate, and is mostly
preoccupied with fighting for authority with SCAF.

SCAF, meanwhile, has a poor record for promoting press
freedom over its 16-month rule. CPJ documented
well over 100 attacks against journalists during this period, in addition to
interrogations, threats, and court cases against journalists critical of the
military body's actions.

No matter where they come from, restrictions on the press impede
an aspiring democracy. Regardless of who is ruling, whether it is the military
council, the Muslim Brotherhood, Morsi, or all or none of the above, the press is
vital to giving people access to information, especially in such times of uncertainty.

Perhaps the most warming sight I witnessed while in Egypt
was the population's incredible appetite for information. Citizens of all
social backgrounds were reading both independent and state newspapers on every
corner. By afternoon, newsstands across Cairo were sold out. If the Shura
Council goes through with this process and uses it to impose censorship on state-owned
newspapers, it will be up to the independent publications to furnish citizens
with news. But it will be a major step back for press freedom and for the
democracy that the country is striving for.

CPJ Middle East and North Africa Research Associate Dahlia El Zein, a Lebanese native who grew up in Cairo, received her master’s degree in Arab studies from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Washington, D.C. She speaks Arabic fluently and has traveled widely in the Middle East.